THE WATERMILL CENTER DAZZLES GUESTS WITH PERFORMANCE ART AND SURREAL DREAMSCAPES AT ANNUAL SUMMER GALA

As guests arrived, including The Untitled Magazine‘s editor-in-chief Indira Cesarine, they encountered Brazilian performance artist Robson Catalunha, who greeted them as a man with a pig’s head sipping a martini, continuing his experiments with hybrid beings and setting the tone for an evening of surreal experiences. Finnish-Angolan artist Alen Nsambu’s haunting performance, featuring a figure drenched in slime, drew viewers into a dark, introspective journey. Dai Asano’s installation, where 20 vocalists chanted in unison, created an immersive passageway evocative of a Japanese tea ceremony. Amidst the wooded areas, Paris-based artist Tez’s oversized head installation evoked a science fiction dreamscape, inviting guests to ponder a future unknown.

The event also showcased Alicja Kwade’s striking “Die bewegte Leere des Moments,” with a massive clock and rock swinging overhead, and Liz Magic Laser’s interactive video installation, which reflected the visitors’ images onto the pulsating bodies of somatic practitioners. These thought-provoking installations were complemented by UNTITLED’s #Girlpower Issue exclusive interviewees (and sister duo) CocoRosie. They performed “Mort De La Mer,” their new opera featuring an eccentric inventor’s peculiar relationship with the moon, characterized by their unique blend of lo-fi toy sounds, classical instrumentation, and genre-defying rhythms.

Helga Davis, the evening’s emcee, brought her dynamic presence to the event, guiding guests through the event’s first seated dinner since 2019 and a live auction. Sotheby’s Kimberly Pirtle led the auction, featuring coveted artworks by Vija Celmins, Roni Horn, and Shirin Neshat. Following the dinner, guests enjoyed performances by Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska‘s band I.U.D., known for their industrial noise samples and inventive drumming, and Mykki Blanco, who performed spoken word, poetry, and live music, including tracks from their EP “Postcards from Italia.” The post-dinner performances added an electrifying end to the otherworldly night.

Beyond its artistic allure, the benefit played a crucial role in supporting the Watermill Center’s mission. The Watermill Center, founded in 1992 by avant-garde visionary Robert Wilson, is an interdisciplinary arts and humanities laboratory located on ten acres of Shinnecock ancestral territory on Long Island’s East End. It offers year-round artist residencies and educational programs, fostering creativity and collaboration among a global community of artists, and puts on the Annual Summer Benefit. The benefit supports the International Summer Program and year-round Artist Residency Program, helping over 120 artists from more than 35 countries and providing educational programming for over 1,000 local children, and celebrating the Center’s mission to integrate artistic inspiration with scientific and humanities research. The Center, with its unique blend of art, science, and the humanities, continues to be a beacon for creativity, offering a sanctuary where artists can explore and inspire.

A key highlight of the event was the Watermill Center’s partnership with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. This initiative, rooted in the jewelry brand’s long-standing association with dance since 1906, aims to uphold the values of creation, transmission, and education. The partnership also celebrated nearly five decades of collaboration between Lucinda Childs and Robert Wilson. This collaboration brought an additional layer of prestige and artistic depth to the benefit, reflecting a shared commitment to fostering artistic innovation and excellence. 

The Benefit showcased seminal works by Childs, including Pastime (1963), Carnation (1964), and Katema (1978), as well as performances of Untitled Trio (1968) and Radial Courses (1976) with Ty Boomershine and Dance On Ensemble. The evening also featured the exhibition LUCINDA CHILDS: ON PAPER / ON STAGE, displaying her diagrammatic drawings and historic performance photos. Complementing this was GIDEON APPAH / IN RESIDENCE, an exhibition of new works by Ghanaian painter Gideon Appah, created during his Visual Arts Fellowship at Watermill Center, exploring memory, culture, and identity through vibrant, dreamlike imagery.

Notable guests included Lucinda Childs, Robert Wilson, Solange Knowles, Mykki Blanco, Peter Marino, Vija Celmins, CocoRosie (Bianca & Sierra Casady), Steven Klein, Liz Magic Laser, Stella Bugbee, Helen King, Jean Shafiroff, Kelly Behun, Alexandra Munroe, Stefano Tonchi, Fiona Alison Duncan, Gideon Appah, Maxwell Osborne, Irina Kro Eicke, Ekene Ijeoma, Patia Borja, Lizzi Bougatsos, Sadie Laska, Carlos Soto, Gardy St. Fleur, Serge Laurent, Diya Vij, Kendall Werts, and Bob Colacello.